Israel says it killed Iran’s intelligence minister, ​Esmail Khatib, in a strike overnight in Tehran. It’s the latest assassination of the country’s senior leadership. This comes as Iran is set to hold funerals today for its security chief, Ali Larijani, and Basij commander, Gholamreza Soleimani, both of whom were also killed in an Israeli strike on Tuesday. Iran vowed revenge and launched retaliatory strikes against Israel. Two people were killed near Tel Aviv by an Iranian missile strike, Israeli emergency responders said earlier today. On Tuesday, the U.S. dropped 5,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs along Iran’s coast near the Strait of Hormuz to target Iran’s anti-ship cruise missiles.

It comes as Joe Kent, the director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, resigned Tuesday over the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. In a letter to President Trump, posted on X, Kent wrote, “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.” Kent is the first senior official to openly break with the White House over the war on Iran. He is a longtime Trump supporter who unsuccessfully ran for Congress twice. During his 2022 election bid, Kent hired a member of the far-right Proud Boys as a consultant. Meanwhile, top intelligence officials are expected to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee later today. It comes as senior Israeli officials have told U.S. diplomats that Iranian protesters will “get slaughtered” if they demonstrate against their government, even as Israel has been promoting anti-regime protests. That’s according to a State Department cable reviewed by The Washington Post. Iran’s Ministry of Health says at least 1,444 people have been killed and nearly 19,000 people have been injured in U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran since February 28. This is a worker with the Iranian Red Crescent.

Saeed Seperhikia: “During the operations of the imposed war from the U.S. and Israel against my country, the Islamic state of Iran, we have seen many heartbreaking scenes. Unfortunately, we have witnessed killing and injuring many of our civilian citizens that happened during the attacks to residential places at night or during other times and created tragic scenes.”